Program Information

Children will learn appropriate social skill development, including turn taking and emotional regulation.

Children living with disabilities 3-5 years

Social Crusaders

Designed for children who need additional help in self-monitoring in social situations.

Children living with disabilities 8-10 years

Lego

Children learn how to build and program Lego creations. Through building these creations children also learn social skills and co-playing.

Children living with disabilities 8-12 years

Friends Camp

A day camp where children will learn social skills through structured and unstructured physical activity and multitudes of activities.

Children living with disabilities 8-12 years

Story of Resilience

For some kids, making a new friend at camp isn’t a big deal. But for
one six-year-old boy with autism, developing a connection with another
child while attending a KidsAbility camp was a huge step forward. As
Dorothy McCabe noted, children with autism often have difficulty building
relationships. The six-year-old boy talked a lot at home about this
buddy he’d made. He didn’t mind that his new friend was non-verbal and
used a wheelchair. In fact, he enjoyed pushing his friend around in the
wheelchair – until the awful moment when he accidentally tipped the
chair over. While his friend wasn’t seriously hurt, the little boy was
very upset about the incident, and showed a great deal of empathy and
concern for his buddy. Just being able to feel and express empathy is,
Dorothy points out, was a major accomplishment.

KidsAbility was
founded 60 years ago – yes, 2017 is their 60th anniversary – with the
mandate to support children and youth with special needs. “We work with
families and children to help them reach whatever their potential is in
their world,” says Dorothy. Last year, the group served more than 7,000
children and youth in Waterloo Region and Guelph-Wellington.
Being
involved with The Resilience Project supports KidsAbility programs that focus on social
skills and behaviour management with children as young as three or four
years old. Resilience-related programs may also have a life skills
focus. In addition, KidsAbility has speech therapists, autism
specialists, physical therapies, occupational therapists, recreational
therapists, social workers and other experts who offer one-to-one and
group programs.

This fall KidsAbility plans to start a small
Saturday morning program to focus on fun and friendship for the children
who attend while giving the parents a break from the demands of caring
for their special-needs children.

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